Kandis Capri Murdered in Phoenix, 3rd TWOC Death Reported This Week

Late late night, I learned from my Facebook friend Monica Jones that a trans woman had been killed in Phoenix. Her name was Kandis Capri and she was 35 years old. Few details are available, but an account in The Guardian describes a domestic altercation involving Kandis’ housemate. Note, the Guardian interviews her mother who in turn chooses to use male pronouns to refer to Kandis. I’ve replaced the male pronouns with gender neutral pronouns for clarity in this excerpt:

“The only thing I know [for sure] is that [they} was murdered,” Andria Gaines, Capri’s mother, told the Guardian. “[Kandis] was shot and I don’t know all the circumstances.”

Gaines continued: “[Capri] was at a lady’s apartment who {they} had been staying with for a couple weeks. And the only thing I know is that the car {they} had rented had been towed or something, or suspected of being towed away, so {they} left her apartment and was shot.”

Gaines said she was scheduled to receive an autopsy report later this week, and she had already been briefed on some of its findings.

“The detective advised me that they have completed the autopsy report and that it was determined that {they} had been shot three to four times,” she said. “And I did ask her: in the front [or] the back? And she said both.”

Kandis is either the 15th or 16th trans woman murdered this year, the 13th or 14th trans woman of color and the 3rd trans woman to be reported dead this past week. And she was shot multiple times from multiple directions? Dear God, that’s an execution. These blog posts are becoming a horrible pattern reflecting a terrible epidemic in our society.

Yesterday, August 14, 2015 will go down in the history of our US trans community and our trans rights movement as a very tough day for us. We had announcements of two more trans younglings in Detroit murdered in Amber Monroe and Ashton O’Hara. We had in North Carolina the announcement that the remains of Angel Elisha Walker had been found after she disappeared 10 months ago. And we are also trying to confirm the death of Kandis Capri in Phoenix.

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We are in a human rights war we didn’t start, but have no choice but to fight it and win. At stake is our humanity and our human rights, and like all wars, unfortunately there are causalities.

A very tough day is a sobering statement and Monica’s allusions to a state of war are not an understatement at all. We can continue to report on the lives cut short in the trans community, but where are the policy proposals? Where is the funding? Where is the national conferences? Where are the resources and supports? The LGBTQ community is more interested in arguing (without irony) about the transwashing in the film ‘Stonewall’ than in wrestling in a serious way with the elimination of actual trans lives in today’s world. And by arguing, I mean defending a Stonewall movie centered on an imaginary cis gay white man. Am I the only one who sees the utter hypocrisy and mean-spirited seeds that foster the hatred behind these murders?

Rest in power, Kandis. Your bravery and honesty in living life on your own terms deserved to be respected and appreciated by those around you.